bennet woodcroft



* UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEEIoE.

BENNI WOODCROFT, 0F ARDWIK, ENGLAND.` l

MODE oF PRINTING CERTAIN ooLoRs oN oALICo AND OTHER FABRICS.V

Specification of Letters Patent No. 678, dated April 5 1838.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that I, BENNET `VVooDoRoET,

a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and

now residing at Ardwick, in the parish of Manchester vin the county of Lancaster, in the said Kingdom, have invented or discovered an Improved Mode of Printing Certain Colors on Calico and other Fabrics; now know e that I, the said BENNET'VVOOD- oRorT, do iereby declare the nature of my said invention to consist- 4 A Inprint-ing calico and otherfabrics, when indigo is used to produce a blue color, or, combined with otherrmaterials, to produce other colors, in an artificial atmosphere, deprived of or devoid of free oxygen, and subsequently allowing the indigo to imbibe the oxygen necessary for producing and fixing the said colors by exposure to the atmospheric air, in order that-the indigo may by certain mechanical means 'be applied in that soluble and deoxidized state best adapted for penetrating the substance of the fibers of the said calico and other fabrics with uniformity, `and afterward exhibit the color required, and become fixed by oxygenation. By which improved mode of printing these colors I am enabled to give to the said colors so printed upon such calico and other fabrics as aforesaid a more even or uniform appearance than by any of the modes now or vheretofore adopted, and whereby also I am enabled to avoid the known difficulties arising to the calico printer from the natural and rapid ainity of indigo for oxygen-and in further compliance with the said proviso I the said BENNET WooDoRorT do hereby describe the manner in which my said improved mode is or may be carried into effect by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the drawing annexed and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:

Figure l, inthe drawing represents a lon gitudinal section, which I consider suflicient and the best to represent the nature of my apparatus-A, A, A, A, represent a cham ber constructed of wrought iron plates, riveted together so as to be air-tight and provided with .air-tight windows for theadmission of light only. In this chamber the mode of ingress and egress is by means of an opening through a tank or waterlute, which is to be filled with water up `to such a level above the opening as to prevent the admission of air into or out of the chamber. e The tank or water lute in the chamber which I havensed is formed at one of the corners thereof, and is denoted by the letters I, I, in the saidfigure. B, is an ordinary cylinder-printing-machine placed in the chamber A, A, A,A, and b, b, b, I), indicate the course of the calico or other fabric in the progress of being printed with a solution of deoxidized indigo in the manner in which calicos are usually printed by such Aa machine. The printing machine B, is driven `by a shaft (tobe turned by any adequate power) which passes through a stuffing box, fixed in the side of the chamber, asseen on an enlarged scale at;O Fig. 2, and the shaft is thrown in and outjof gear by the rod T, Fig. 2, which passes`through anotherstuiing box in the side of the chamber. C, C, v(in Fig. l) represent a partition, which separates theV chamber A, A, A, A, into two parts, videlicet, one where the printing machine B is, the other where the stove or drying portion of the apparatus is placed and intofwhich the calico or other fabric passes (through the partition C, C,) for the purpose of being dried after being printed,

D, D, D, D,`D, are the iiues by which the pump draws the air from the chamber A, A,

A, A, through the pipe e, e, and forces it forward by means of the pipes f, f, through the vessels F, F, successively and through the pipe H, I-I, H, again into the chamber A, A, A, A. These vessels F`,F, are of the same construction as the liquid puriers used in modern gas-works. The vessels F, F, contain a solution of sulfuret of lime,

which has a strong aiinity for oxygen, of

which it deprives the air when mechanically forced' through it. Vhen the .air in the chamber has been passed through the solution last mentioned until all the oxygen has been thereby absorbed,.nothing but nitrogen will remain.Y

When a quantity of oxygen has been ab- -side and outside the chamber.

what practically may be called all) the oxygen in the chamber has been abstracted. This tank or water-lute I, I, serves the purposes of admitting air into the chamber when a partial vacuum is formed in the interior thereof, and of separating the internal artificial atmosphere from the external air. Itis also the entrance as before mentioned by which the operatives, who are to work in the interior, go in and out of the chamber. The air in the inside of the chamber will be increased in bulk by-means of the heat generated in the drying process. Therefore, at the opposite end of the chamber A, A, A, A, is placed an ordinary gasholder with its usual apparatus (which gasholder and Vapparatus are indicated Vby X X,X X X for the purpose of receiving .air outfof the chamber as the bulk of air increases therein, and allowing air to return ,into the 'chamber when the temperature of the air therein is reduced, so that thereby an equilibrium of pressure is as nearly as may be kept up in- The operatives who are to workV in the chamber must be provided with dresses perfectly waterroof and impervious to air, and to be so ormed and adjusted as to admit and enable them to breathe and respire therein the external air only. The following (being the sort of dress which I use) will be found suficient for the purpose. It is made of prepared cloth of the kind known by the name of Mackintoshs'waterproof or india rubber cloth. The dress, which is shown at Figjt, consists of two parts. The upper part resembles a jacket, with a hood or head-piece attached to the neck of the .jacket in order to receive the head of the workman or operative. This jacket has no other opening than at the' waist and at the terminations of the sleeves, and is impervious to water and air in all other places. In the inside of the lowest part or waist of the jacket a circular and even belt or ring of wood is fastened, which is about three inches broad and half an -inch in thickness. The lower part of the dress is in the form of a pair of trousers, terminating like boots and Without any opening` except at the waist. The waistband of the trousers is so wideYthat it admits of being drawn over the wooden ring or belt of the jacket, around which it is sov tightly bound by tworbrass clips or hoops, provided with tightening screws, as to become water and air-tight at that junction. The wrists of the sleeves of the jacket are so closely pressed to the wrists of the operative byindia rubber bracelets as to prevent the entrance of water into the jacket, or the entrance or escape of air into it or out of it. The hood or head-piece is provided in front with large .glasses to lookthrough .and the junction of which with the hood or headl piece must also be water and air-tight.V The hood also has two elastic tubes, which are united therewith near the mouth, through one of which thel external atmospheric air is constantly forced by means of bellows, or other adequate apparatus or instruments (but I have usedbellows) and through the other of whichit passes out again. These tubes, which form part of the dress, extend from the operative through the tank or water-lute I, I, to thel external atmosphere, where one of them is attached to the bellows or otherl forcing apparatus. The calico .and

othervfabrics to be printed maybe taken in and passed out of the ychamber in ya dry state through a trough Yor lute of mercury as exhibited in section Fig. 3, where A, A, represent the perpendicular side of the chamber and g g thesurfa'ce of the mercury through which the goods are passed under the roller r'. Goods, implements and-other materials may also be passed in and out of the chamber in a dry state .through the tank or water-lute I,'I, when previously inclosed in a Vcloservessel or wrapper formed of caoutchouc or india rubber cloth or some other lsuitable material impervious' to water The inclosing calico or other fabrics ini tended to be printed, along with the printing apparatus, whatever it may be, and the material to be printed upon them, in a chamber case or compartment filled with an artificial atmosphere deprived of or devoid of free oxygen, such as atmospheric air deprived of its oxygen as herein before described, or any other suitable artificial atmosphere, and there printing the said calico and other fabrics, with a solution of deoxidized indigo when required to produce a blue color, or withV a solution of deoxidized indgo and such other suitable materials as are usually used in combination withindigo when required to produce other colors, and

subsequently exposing the said calico and other fabrics so printed as aforesaid to the action of the atmospheric air in order to imbibe the necessary quantity of oxygen Witnesses L. CARPMAEL,

`W. H. W. RrrcHm. l

produce .and fixthe colors re- 

